We didn't want to have a dedicated trash cabinet so we have two small trash bins under the sink that holds garbage and recyclables. We take trash out each night so the small containers work well for us.

Trash compactor opens with foot just next to sink. With an attractive wicker/copper recycling bin that slides into the bakers rack and composting to the garden, plus crushing therefore holding a lot, it only needs changing once a week on trash day. (It's the recycling that keeps needing to go to the garage all week.)

Here's what I did to my kitchen (see photo). I am 6'-2" tall, so the lower cabinets don't do a thing for me, so I converted two existing cabinets to be pull outs. Two drawer slides each cabinet and a box built of solid pine planks took me half an hour to put together. Then I fastened the cabinet doors to the pull out using screws from the inside. Each drawer holds 2 rubbermaid trash cans snuggly, so I have room for a few days of trash and almost a week's recycling. We are in the habit of putting the smelly trash in the first can so it gets emptied more frequently and use the cans further in for 'clean' trash that may stay until the next trash collection day.

I have a trash pull-out. We recycled very well-made cabinets from a 24 year-old kitchen when we remodeled this time. I sanded and re-stained the cabinets, hubby put on three coats of polyurethane. Our contractor did the installation. The old trash pull-out did not survive my poor dog's persistent attacks (he had a brain tumor and would get focused on something and lose his training), however, so my hubby had to install new Hafele bottom-mounting hardware. It was a pretty easy project and he did a great job. We now have a trash can and a recycling can. I love having the trash inside the cabinet instead of as a free-standing can in the room.

Here is the 24 year-old trash pull out.

I prefer a free-standing can--one less door to open, easier to clean up after something doesn't quite make it into the trash can. In our recent kitchen renovation we left space under the countertop for both the free-standing can and one recycling bucket. Easy to access from both sink and stove. I moved the recycling bucket out a bit so that you could see it but normally it is tucked in a bit more, just out of sight. The can is "fake" stainless (plastic)--lighter and cheaper than the real thing, great for when you want to move the can nearer to your work when chopping, rinsing, etc.

In the small closet just around the wall from the fridge. We have a regular garbage can and one just for recycling. My hubby mounted both of them on wheels as I pull them out frequently to empty them and drag them outside to dump in the large garbage containers and they were making marks on the floor...no more marks and the wheels glide across the floor over to the outside door easily now. If I am cutting up lots of veggies and fruit (peeling potatoes) I will use a small bag or container on the countertop or sometimes I just wheel the garbage can over to the counter.

We just did a total remodel of our '60's kitchen. Our contractor recommended the trash/recycling cans in a pull-out next to the sink. As I told him, I was reluctant to do this as I had a husband who was used to the free-standing trash can in the corner...40 years of training that would require re-training I was sure! Now we have the exact system as in your photo and we both are really glad we agreed. The only catch was when our kids came home for Christmas and kept asking where the trash can was.

I've had several homes, and in one I had a trash/recycling cabinet. It was just my husband and I at the time, and we both worked out of the house and I found it worked well. Then we moved, had kids, and I decided to stay home. Now we have a full size trash can and I can't imagine doing anything different, just because we generate a lot more trash. Interestingly enough our community doesn't have curb side recycling and I don't recycle near as much as I should because of it, but if I had two cans in a cabinet maybe it would still work.

Next to my Fridge. I want it handy while I'm cooking. I can drag it over to the sink for tossing out prep "trash". I don't want the hassle of having it in a cabinet or closet...

I use a rectangular Simple Human aluminum trash can.. Step on the lid opener pedal and toss. Open trash cans under the sink are going to smell bad and attract ants.

I have had a trash compactor for 15 years. Lost it and added a pull out cabinet. I couldn't be happier. I don't want to see garbage cans in the kitchen, so this was a perfect solution.

What an interesting question!

If I had a trash compactor I would replace it with a pullout; I had a trash compactor 25 years ago, and when it worked it was noisy and very hard to clean. When it did n't work, it was still very hard to clean and keep odor free. I am sure the newer models have resolved these design defects, but never again will I add a trash compactor to a kitchen. Forty pounds of trash is forty pounds of trash. I prefer to take the trash that cannot be recycled to a waste basket we keep in the garage, just outside the door to the garage from the house, and empty this periodically into the larger rubber curbside receptacles that we keep in the garage, or just outside. We have curbside trash pick up twice a week, and curbside recycling once a week. If that sounds like luxury service, the service provided by our County is even better; we are in an area of our urban/suburban County area that is serviced by the private sector.

In our new house (over 20 years ago) we had at first a plastic wastebasket under the sink for garbage that could not go down the disposal. This plastic bin was necessarily smaller than the ones in the pix above because we had a deep sink and a large garbage disposal. We also had a child proof catch on the doors. We emptied this can into the curbside receptacle almost daily. Eventually, our County added curbside recycling, and now our recycling curbside bin fills up faster than the garbage bin. And the recycling service comes only once a week!

At first we would put the recycling in the "prep/bar" sink that we use only for filtered water. (We thought we would use this sink for preparing fresh fruits and vegetables but we tend to use the large sink for everything. If there were more than two of us in the kitchen, we would probably use this sink more.) The garbage was still placed under the sink. Then, when we adopted two rescue puppies, we switched the recycling and the garbage. Now the recycling is under the sink and the garbage container is in the the auxiliary sink. For the recycling, we switched to a rectangular bucket, low, with a handle. It looks like a mop bucket, but makes good use of the low space under the sink cabinet and holds more than a small plastic garbage can.

I suppose I should have mentioned that we are "Vegetryians" -- meat minimalists, so our trash compactor doesn't sit for a week with anything that would smell awful. On rare occasions if I do have something to toss with days to go before trash day, I'll just label it trash and put it in a bag in the freezer 'til then.

I had a Simple Human free-standing trash can before remodeling the kitchen and found that the dog with the brain tumor, whose training was forgotten and behavior was not easily controlled, could knock it over and get to its contents no matter what I did. We ended up having the trash can sit on top of the counter in the deepest corner, the only place he could not reach. The advantage of an in-cabinet trash container is that a shock mat in front of it, set on low, will protect it from being raided by the dogs. With this dog, it did not matter whether we had smelly good garbage in the can for him or not - he loved to eat paper and cardboard just as much.

Now that we have curbside recycling (just starting our second year) we find that we often miss a week of garbage pick up because the two of us cannot even fill a tall kitchen trash bag with non-recycle garbage. After 17 years of saving and sorting all the different recyclables and hauling them to the center every few months, the freedom to dump it all unsorted into a big bin is like heaven!

I have never had ants in the recycling bin or garbage bin inside the house. I do get ants in the house, but they come only in the spring and never make it as far as the kitchen.

I agree nancy, single-stream recycling (and our town-wide curb-side pickup service) is the bomb!

My folks always had a trash compactor, but the downside was that when it was full, it was so dense that it was too heavy for my mom to deal with very easily.

I prefer to keep the trash in a free standing container with a foot flip opener. I don't like the smell under the cabinet

With recycling becoming the norm, trash compactors are sort-of pointless, right? Ours is going to be gone when the remodeling bug hits us...and replaced with a two-bin pull out system like the ones shown above! The trash compactor we have now is gross and old, but it does keep the dogs from exploring. It gets emptied often, because if it were truly full, it doesn't open enough to get the bag out without ripping. We never use it as a compactor.

You have to open a lower cabinet door, then pull out the garbage can in my kitchen. It is in the middle of the work triangle... I have a child lock on the cabinet to keep the dog out. I keep a small container next to the sink to collect compostables and the recycling bin is just around the corner in the garage.

...oh, and our town converted to "pay as you throw" a few years ago @ $1.50 per town labeled bag. Who's glad she put in a trash compactor now? I usually have a little room left over, can often get away with the smaller $.90 bag, and rarely use more than one bag a week.

I currently have a freestanding bin in my current home but in our new one (which is currently being built), we will have the pull out drawer/door under the island next to the sink. Can't wait!

I have the same set up as your photo Emily;)

So do I Margo :-)

Lynda- you may have the same set up BUT do you have fruit on your head??

I have a medium sized one under the sink, and a bigger one in the kitchen under the working table for immediate access. I have ones that are quick to remove and replace. It has to have a cover.

right now in a separate plastic trash can with a lid in my laundry room. But.... in the next month or so will be replacing our lower cabinets and one cabinet I bought was a 15" for a double waste can, one for recycling. It will be a long over due necessity since we can't leave the house and accidentally forget to close the laundry room door because our male dog will knock over the trash can and him and our female dog have fun tossing it around in the kitchen :D

Once we put a sink and 2 lower cabinets in our laundry room, going to buy a single can pull out, the kind that comes with the lid, and use to to pour our large bag of dog food into it. Much better than going into the cold garage to refill from the bag on the floor

Old conversation but the debate remains. I am trying to rework my kitchen design. There is no room for more than one person in there when prepping, or cleaning up. My garbabe is currently under the sink, but it is a hassle if someone else is in there. You know, when you just want to toss something in the trash, and someone is working at the sink...or loading the dishwasher, which is right next to it. I also don't want an extra garbage can just kicking around the kitchen, because, it will get kicked.

Stainless steel simple human can at end of our peninsula, no recycling out in the country.

@Mary Kelly Is your current garbage set up is in an undersink cabinet? On my remodel I did 2 drawers under the sink. (36" base cabinet) Left drawer contains food compost and garbage, right pullout is cleaning supplies. Very easy to be stood at the sink and have the left pull out be in use without moving out of the way. I have a another pull out to the right of the dishwasher which contains 2 recycle bins. Set up works extremly well.

Freestanding Glad garbage can. Low and squat. Lid can be propped open without holding you foot in the pedal. Very practical, I can put a whole cookie pan in and scrape it. Had the bag keeper, etc like Simply Human but the lid and foot pedal are black plastic so the silver coating can’t scratch off.
I have a pull out double trash bin as well, use that for recycling and for clean non food garbage. Don’t want bugs, mold, etc to have an incentive to go into the cabinetry.

Glad 13 Gallon Stainless Steel... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GY9TFTY?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Yes, that's exactly where my garbage is currently. My dishwasher is to the left of it. I love your set up; you can see the natural light coming in, and your cabinets are beautiful. I've been thinking that white cabinets would be difficult to keep clean, but the finish on yours look like they would be easy maintenance (I'd rather be cooking in there than cleaning). That range looks magnificent! I have an older Maytag gas range and it does the job, but that one is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing Christine!